Beware the giant gulls of Bondi with an eye for a snack

Julie Power

IT MAY be because he grew up in Switzerland, where most things are small and compact, says the photographer Andre Braun to explain his love of small things.

If his surreal photos are any indication, the architect and interior designer also loves seagulls and octopuses, one of which stole one of three cameras he's ruined or lost in his pursuit of the cause of scale photography at Bondi beach.

Braun's photos upset the normal balance of power on Bondi beach. Humans look like chip-sized snacks for the huge seagulls eyeing them greedily. A bluebottle appears so big it could star in its own creature feature, perhaps The Bluebottle that Ate Bondi.

Braun says his work is about representing the real world but on a different scale.

''They're all real images, where the people have been reduced in size,'' Braun said.

To make one of his images, such as a giant seagull looming over a girl in a white bikini, he took photos of the seagulls and the girl in the bikini on Bondi beach. He then reduced the image of the girl to 20 centimetres, laser-cut the image, and reinserted her image into the landscape.

Braun's exhibition, BondiWorldExpo, runs from November 20 to December 2 at the Bondi Pavilion Gallery.